Artists Who Tap Technology In Unconventional Ways

Heather Dewey-Hagborg's Stranger Visions

by Thor Jensen

How much can you really tell about a person from their DNA? That’s the question Brooklyn artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg asks in her series of “Stranger Visions” sculptures. Dewey-Hagborg finds detritus on the street that may contain a DNA fingerprint like cigarette butts or chewed gum. She then sequences the DNA and feeds it into a computer program that extracts information – sex, race, eye color and other morphological signifiers. The program then creates a model of what it thinks the person looks like, which is 3D printed. The results are startling and a little disturbing.